WELCOME NUMBER 136!

New Mini E driver just added to the group.

Number 136 had been turned back in with only 400 miles on it.
A friend of mine picked it up Friday and is off and running and very happy!

I will try to get him to start a blog, if not I will include his experiences here.

Great video interview with the maker of the motor in my Mini E.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajtSEAdpoYA

Alternative Power Expo at Santa Monica Civic, Santa Monica California.

Had a great time exploring the various exhibits and talking with people about the pure JOY of driving an Electric Vehicle, BEV.

Numerous Mini E's

Numerous other Alternative vehicles, Test drives, great to see a plethora of possibilities hitting the market soon.

As for COOPER E 230 we now have a charger in Hollywood (40 amp) 60 miles from home and another 75 miles from home in Malibu (60 amp).

We seem to be building our own infrastructure!

Came home from Hollywood at 80 mph (car pool lane), a/c on, headlights, radio,

arrived home with 30% to spare, oh what a great feeling!

I LOVE this car!

It's So good to be back in the drivers seat!

Approaching 5000 pollution free miles!

Since 5/31/2009

As of today - 4330 miles divided by 123 days 

equals an average of 35 miles a day, every day.

Sometimes I drive further, sometimes less,

Mostly, well within the 100 mile range of the car.

I now have access to a charger at a business in Hollywood (55 miles one way)

so my Hollywood trips have just gotten easily feasible.

Still costing an average of 3 cents a mile to run,

get home plug-in and charge overnight (off peak)

have a full tank ready to go in the morning.

Love this car!

Oh...It's a Novelty!

OK I was talking to a FORD GT40 owner a while back

and on introducing him to my ELECTRIC MINI E he looks at it and states

"Oh....It's a novelty!"

Now I ask you,

Which is more of a novelty?

• A 2 Passenger, $200,000, 800 HP, 300 MPH car that can only be driven on a closed track.

OR

• A 2 Passenger, 200 HP, 95MPH car that has the SAME breathtaking performance characteristics and can be driven SILENTLYon any road, as far as one normally drives in average daily use

AND

My car does this on ELECTRICITY, without pollution, smoke, odors, burning fuel, and does it while costing only PENNIES.

Hey, I love the GT40, it was historic and beautiful and sounds wonderful!

But the world is indeed changing and it's time to see the light and MOVE ON,

besides what's more important, all that sound?

Or the feeling you get from being G-forced back into your seat as you experience phenomenal acceleration when you press the accelerator to the floor?

Spanish Adventure

Had to go to Spain for two weeks.

Saw the new MINI D

on the showroom floor.

Diesel is still king in Europe, at $5.00 a gallon its cheaper than Gas, better mileage, engine life, cheaper tuneups, etc, and the new Diesel engines are quieter and cleaner.

These days the air in Spain is fabulous!

Historically, Spain has been harnessing the Power of the Wind for a thousand years.

Everywhere, on the PLAIN,  there are NEW High Technology Wind Powered generators.

The ELECTRIC car is perfect for In City errands,

small, nimble, Clean, daily range of 160 kilometers (100 miles),

saving many Diesel Powered kilometers for the long hauls.

I saw a Prius in Madrid with the word "ELECTRICO"

across the back window.

Slowly, the World catches on, Clean Power Now!

Run to Zero

Arrived home with 8 miles left on the Range Estimate readout, so  decided to take it down and try to find zero.

After hitting the 'dashed line' meaning no range left, I flipped to % and found I had 2% left in the battery.
I continued to drive, at 30 and 40 miles an hour till I finally found 0% on the Battery and --------- on the range readouts.

I was still doing 30 miles an hour.

Not wanting to have to push it I headed for the barn and arrived with 0% and --------- after about 8 miles of driving.

Parked it, let it sit about half an hour, checked again and I found 2% in the Battery with still -------range.

Turned him back on, turned on the headlights, as it was now after dark and went for another drive.

After about 3 miles and 0% and -------- readouts I decided to head home again for the same reason as above.

This photo shows 0%, ------ range and I am doing 30 mph with the headlights on!

Finally, I never found absolute zero, I went fully ten miles beyond 0% and ------- range and still had enough to do 30 miles an hour. Performance definitely slacked off the nearer I got to 0% but I was still able to travel at legal speeds and stay out of the way.

I parked COOPER E, plugged him in and today I'm off again with a full tank!

This is COOPER E's new front badge, a custom EEU front plate!

Love this car!

Bye for now!